New York's Bonanza

A/Stock shockwaves, compliments of a 1966 Chevy Biscayne

Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines

One would hardly think that upstate New York would be the base of operations for an A/Stock Chevy in the mid-Sixties. But that's where this bench-seat 1966 Biscayne originated; more specifically, the town of Le Roy, southeast of Rochester. The man responsible for its creation was Karl Bill, who was the service and parts manager at Le Roy Motors. Karl made sure it was ordered with a 425hp 427-cu.in. Mark IV V-8 and a four-speed manual, along with a Positraction 4.56:1 rear gear ratio, metallic brakes and no heater.
When delivered, Karl set about lettering the car with White Lightning on the fenders and a massive B/S designation on the door, along with three billiard balls denoting the cubic inches. Karl also shaved pounds from the car by eliminating items such as the undercoating, rear window regulators (the glass was propped up permanently), fender braces and about half the nuts and bolts holding the body components in place, though he did so carefully, to avoid compromising the car's strength. Further race preparation included a gear swap--to 4.88:1--the installation of a Hurst line-lock, and an alteration to the front wheels: They were narrowed to four inches and the tires were inflated to 80 pounds each, effectively reducing the contact patch by a substantial margin.
"Karl took the car to Maple Grove (in Reading, Pennsylvania) for its first race and quickly beat the track champion," said current owner John DeRue, a resident of nearby Hamlin. "He raced that car twice more with that paint scheme, but what's interesting is that Karl thought it was a B/Stock car based on power and weight. When he got to the Maple Grove, they placed him in A/Stock. There were two other cars with the White Lightning name, so after the third race, he re-lettered it to Bonanza. The TV show was sponsored by Chevy, so that's how the car was named."
According to John, Bonanza's home track was the now-defunct Niagara Dragstrip (or Sunday Niagara) in Niagara Falls--a NASCAR-, then NHRA-sanctioned track--where it quickly earned a reputation as being unbeatable. "It actually was known throughout the region. In 1967, Bonanza beat the national record holder at Niagara, and the following year it beat the Hemi that had won the world finals; the car was that strong. It also ran an 11.73 ET (at 120 MPH) under Karl's ownership; it was the Biscayne's best run ever."
Like many race cars, it was sold off and its history became fogged. John told us that when Karl sold Bonanza in 1970 or '71, with 804 miles on the odometer, "It went to a guy named John Chaddock. The car was so well known that he went to a hardware store, purchased white spray paint and covered up the lettering. In one race, John had mistakenly engaged reverse at the line while matched up against a GTO. When the tree's green light illuminated, he went the wrong way, yet he was still able to grab the forward gears and beat the GTO to the timing lights. A series of subsequent owners left it with a small-block bolted under the hood; it was street-raced a bit, and later painted blue. By then, nobody knew the car's real history as it sat in storage for years."
John, it should be noted, is himself a drag racer. A construction company owner, he started racing his 1962 Chevy Impala on the day he purchased it while in high school. "I was telling one of my bucket operators about my race car when he commented that he had one, too. I took a look at it--he had a copy of the original sales receipt that matched the VIN--and I noticed what it was built with. Eventually we agreed on a price in 2008; it was showing just 7,000 miles." With the car came a 1966 427 engine, transmission, tachometer and a big box of nuts and bolts.
In an attempt to learn more about the car, John went to Karl's used-car lot, which was still in business. "When I walked in, there were pictures of Bonanza all over the walls and I quickly found out what I really had in my garage. Nobody knew that it still existed, including Karl and his son, Jeff, who is also a racer. They were very instrumental in providing helpful details, documentation and photographs while we performed a complete rotisserie restoration to its as-raced scheme." When the Chevy was finished, Karl even drove it down Main Street in Le Roy during a cruise night.
Today, Bonanza shows a mere 7,156 miles; it was recently bestowed with a First Junior status at the 2010 AACA Eastern Fall Meet at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

This article originally appeared in the May, 2011 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.